Friday, May 23, 2008

there have been recent reports stating that Canada's tourism is down right now.

in fact they have hit a record low.

mainly it is down because the travels of Americans going to Canada has dropped 15%.

a lot of focus is on the fact that the Canadan dollar is high compared to the US dollar. And it is true that plays a big a role in this dent on Canada's travel industry. a lot of people whent over to canada because they could get good deals on things.

another focus is the fact that we have to get passports to go between the countries now when we used to be able to travel back and forth without one. Which I think is a really big reason why tourism is down in Canada right now. A lot of people don't have passports but they used to be able to go up to Canada for a day/weekend.

For example it was common for Americans that turned 18 to go over to Canada because they could legaly drink alcahol. Now the kid that doesn't have a passport isn't able to do so and money this little drunkered would have spent in Canadian bars has been cut off.

having to get a passport is also a bigger hassle. Before the only problem with going to Canada might have been getting stuck in traffic while trying to cross the border.

But of course one of the biggest reasons (that also ties into the first reason) is the fact that the American economy is down right now and so people don't have as much money to spend on traveling.